Kakas!!!

Today was a day off and I went out to Whirinaki Forest with Claude and Bob, who are monitoring Kakas. This is one of New Zealand's five native parrot species. They are a threatened species because introduced predators kill them as they nest, especially the females. They are a big bird, over 500 grams (over 1.2 pounds). Their outer feathers are a dull green, but underneath their wings is a deep crimson color. They have an impressively curved bill and produce a number of loud, gruff caw sounds. They nest inside rotted cavities in ancient rimu and kauri trees in the native bush. From egg-laying to fledging takes over three months, which is one reason they are vulnerable to predators. Claude uses five stacked mist nests that are hoisted on guide ropes into the forest canopy. They play recorded kaka calls to attract more birds.

The goal is to capture and radio-tag females in order to find nests and monitor fledgling success rates. These success rates are the measure of their predator control opperations. After three hours, just as the sun was getting too high to continue, we caught a female kaka! It turns out that this was the first female they had caught in two years! Once again, I am a fantastic good luck charm. I should add that they only net a few dozen times a year, but it was still remarkable luck for me. Or "jammy" as Rich would say. They attached a backpack with a radio to her, and we let her go successfully. While working on her, they gave her honey a couple times, which was rather entertaining. She didn't need any coaxing at all (I wish the bats were like that). She went right for it, with gusto, smacking her lips, er, beak and gurgling with joy. Imagine Homer: hmmmm, honey. She whined when they took it away. Anyway, that was a great oppurtunity combined with a great bit of luck!